I have a son who plays on one of the top ranked football teams in the state of South Dakota. He plays Defensive tackle, and his goal is to play for a big Div. I college football program. The problem is SD is not particularly a hotbed for recruiters and big time colleges. I have looked at recruiting sites but it is hard to tell which ones are good and which ones would be a waste of money. I have also considered sending game films or highlight videos, but am not sure what the coaches actually look for? Any advice would be deeply appreciated.
I almost forgot my son is 6’8" 310 lbs. with size 18 shoe and still not done growing yet. Hope this helps!
There are plenty of organizations that will put together a type of highlight package (bio, personality type, ect., almost like a resume) for your son that can be sent out to colleges. I guess you could do it yourself, but a pro job might look better. These things aren’t cheap, but then again college isn’t either.
How old is your son? If he’s not yet a Senior the #1 way to draw attention is by attending camps at Div. 1 schools. Another step is to follow-up with coaches of oppposing teams and ask them if they have any contacts or wouldn’t mind providing a written testimony to share with college coaches. Your son’s size is incredible and if he has the athletic ability to go along with it all you have to do is find a way to attract a little attention and it will blossom. Many of the coaches on these threads such as John Davies might have some great ideas as well.
Eric, yes send him to the Boise St, Minn or Neb. camp, this is a good idea. His size is great. Also, have him attend a Nike (or other) COMBINE camp, where he’ll run the 40, shuttle, vertical jump and bench 185 for reps. Make sure he’s got a 5.2, 4.8, 18" and 25 reps…respectively. Joe Defranco has a good tape to watch for doing the tests and is a good trainer too.
Attend camps. Send out video. Call football offices at various schools and see what the process is. Have his high school coach push him for honors. Have his high school coach call hiscollege contacts.
Then start looking at official and unofficial visits. Unofficials may be a great way to go. In South Dakota you could easily visit Minnesota, Wisonsin, Iowa, Iowa State, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Colorado State, and so on. Obviously, official visits are set up by the college coaches and an offer is probably in the works. If he does not get offered look at the walk-on programs. He may have a better chance at a smaller school such as Wyoming.
when my friend was recruited as a linebacker places like Harvard wanted a full game tape of his best game. I would make sure you have several to choose from in addition to a highlight with and without music.
Send him to DivisionI camps. Before that send him to train with Joe DeFranco if at all possible. If not go to his website and learn everything you can through the video, the ask Joe archives and his articles. The coaches will be salivating at the mouth if he has a mean side on the field.
Get him on Defranco’s videos so he can be ready for NFL draft get that early start. Regarding the level of athletics, if he wants to go to D1 he’s more than likely going to be backing someone up evne though he has nice stats on his size. ANother thing is he need to look for playing time, so he can be SEEN, not saying ohh I want to get on tv or I want to be in D1 because I think the scouts go there. My cousin plays D1-AA ball and they have a few scouts the purpose of him going to the DI-AA school was to be seen, and that really isn’t happening as much as oppose ot other places. One of my friends use to play for a D1 school then had coach issues and switched to our school which is D2 and currently is set to go to the NFL next year. Plus my schools defense is really good so there are plenty of scouts coming to the games t scout out our players. Another thing to consider is coaches, coaches will try to recruit you for one thing and then talk a bunch of crap to get you to come to their school and then switch your position and even manipulate scholarship money and other things surrounding that nature so you as the dad make sure you follow up on all that stuff. Umm what else…, I’d say for the team try to pick the one that could allow your son to be seen and have his talents shown that way he can be evaluted and followed through his career if the scouts like him or not. And once again coaches will say anything, I KNOW!!! Sorry if grammar and stuff is jumbled I was typing fast I need to be studying now, but I hope your son makes it somewhere nice that he likes. OHh yeah one more thing, if he is really set on making the NFL and he isn’t a person that gets easy A’s it may help for him to take an easy major so he can concentrate on football.
get that early start. Regarding the level of athletics, if he wants to go to D1 he’s more than likely going to be backing someone up evne though he has nice stats on his size. ANother thing is he need to look for playing time, so he can be SEEN, not saying ohh I want to get on tv or I want to be in D1 because I think the scouts go there. My cousin plays D1-AA ball and they have a few scouts the purpose of him going to the DI-AA school was to be seen, and that really isn’t happening as much as oppose ot other places. One of my friends use to play for a D1 school then had coach issues and switched to our school which is D2 and currently is set to go to the NFL next year. Plus my schools defense is really good so there are plenty of scouts coming to the games t scout out our players. Another thing to consider is coaches, coaches will try to recruit you for one thing and then talk a bunch of crap to get you to come to their school and then switch your position and even manipulate scholarship money and other things surrounding that nature so you as the dad make sure you follow up on all that stuff. Umm what else…, I’d say for the team try to pick the one that could allow your son to be seen and have his talents shown that way he can be evaluted and followed through his career if the scouts like him or not. And once again coaches will say anything, I KNOW!!! Sorry if grammar and stuff is jumbled I was typing fast I need to be studying now, but I hope your son makes it somewhere nice that he likes. OHh yeah one more thing, if he is really set on making the NFL and he isn’t a person that gets easy A’s it may help for him to take an easy major so he can concentrate on football.